Flight Lines
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August 2019 Flight Lines Cover Page: One of the best Float Planes events ever. Big turn out and fantastic weather. What more could we ask for ? The same on August 25 please…. 2 FLIGHT LINES HAMILTON MODEL AERO CLUB INC. August 2019 www.hamiltonmac.org.nz PATRON Graeme Bradley PRESIDENT Grant Finlay 027-273-7461 VICE PRESIDENT Gordon Meads 021-125-2911 SECRETARY Alan Rowson 07-843-3889 TREASURER Alan Rowson 021-025-93002 CLUB CAPTAIN Sel Melville 027-482-3459 BULLETIN Ed. Dave Crook 021-123-6040 (Editorial Email: send to: [email protected] ) COMMITTEE: Mike Sutton Chris Tynan 022-353-9231 – The helpers Sel Melville 027-482-3459 Dave Crook 021-123-6040 Lyndon Perry 021-02518474 WEB SITE Grant Finlay - The boss CATERER Collen Tynan - Don’t bite the hand that feeds you CLUB NIGHT: Wednesday August 14, 2019 7.30 pm VENUE: Beerescourt Bowling Club 68a Maeroa Road - Hamilton Club Night Theme: Annual Quiz Night Club Themed Flying Day: AG Aircraft (Re-run of June & Julys washed out events) 3 Presidents Report Grant August is upon us and now the real winter weather seems to have hit us with vengeance, at least it has this week! With a weekend away and some rough weather, I haven’t done much flying in this past month at all, hopefully others had made the effort on the finer days. Mind you I have managed a few hours in the workshop, but as yet there’s not a lot to show for it. I’m currently working on installing radio gear, batteries and a larger tank in the DH Beaver I purchased off Bruce Pickering, so hopefully it will be ready to test out once the weather clears up a bit. Then there’s a need to finish off my Piper Cub on floats, somehow I don’t think that will make it to the lake at the end of August though!. Last months club night saw a number of people bring along their current building projects and it was interesting to see what different aspects of modelling were dragged from their building boards. I was especially interested with Bens 3D printed fuselage for his RC Powered Parasail. With the fully completed fabric Parasail purchased for a ridiculous price from overseas (under $30) and with homemade 3D printed fuselage parts, this makes for a very cheap and practical aircraft and certainly something different to fly. Other projects included Alan Rowsons SE5a WWWI bi-plane that is almost at the point of test flying and my DH Beaver mentioned above. Thanks to all those that brought along their projects and spoke about them 4 August’s club night theme is our great Annual Aviation Quiz night. Sadly, Mikey Wilson is unable to attend as quizmaster this year, however he has done all the hard work and put together another mind bending set of quiz questions. Therefore, we have had to coerce another club member into the role of Quiz Master supreme, the man who has all the answers and is open to suitable bribes, as he no doubt attempted from the other side of the table……so a big drum roll for this years Quiz Master extraordinaire…Frazer “Bogan” Briggs. Yes, Bogan will be the man throwing out the wrong answers and totalling the scores. So this is guaranteed to be a night of laughter, see you there. Julys themed flying day was sadly another washout bowing to the whims of the winter weather, so our second attempt in a row at running an Ag Aircraft day was a total failure. However, never say never, the committee is determined that we will not be beaten and so August will be our third and final attempt at running an AG day. Ag Plane Day – Take 3 ? 5 If it doesn’t happen this time you will hear the collective sigh from the committee, surely it will be third time lucky! Despite missing out on the Ag day, we still had a very successful float plane day at the beginning of the month with great weather and calm conditions, there is a report elsewhere in the bulletin so I won’t go into any detail. This of course leads into our next float plane day at the end of this month, which again will be out at Lake Kainui (D). So, to wrap up my column, another reminder that safety is one of my biggest concerns for as much fun as our models can be, they can also be extremely dangerous. We acknowledge that Pilot error happens, as does mechanical, radio & electrical issues. None the less, if you do whatever is possible to lessen the occurrence of failure such as careful and regular maintenance checks of your aircraft & flying gear, then that goes a long way to ensuring everyone’s safety. Sel – HMAC’s Mr Safety And remember, although it’s great to push your flying skills to the limit, take a steady road to improvement and don’t fly too far outside of your comfort zone, build up your skills over time and progress with success. Right, that’s my lot for the month, enjoy the building if you can’t go flying. Grant 6 Club Captains Report Sel Well guys I’m pleased to be back flying again even though it’s a bit strange using a thumb that has no feeling in it which is making control a little difficult. I’ll be dining out on my disability for a while as an excuse for any bad flying observed. It’s been great weather for building, assembling or repairing so hopefully there will be some new models taking to the sky when conditions improve. Well done Erl for cleaning up the mess made after a couple of cows managed to get onto the strip a couple of weeks ago. Your effort was much appreciated. Another couple of new members this month. Welcome along to Philippe Beau and Jarrod Briggs (that name rings a bell!) Thank You Erl A reminder that the speed limit from Collins Road to the field is 30kph so let’s keep the farm owner happy and keep that speed down. 7 8 HMAC’s 2 I.C. Reports on the last Float Plane Day Gordon I arrived at Lake D Sunday morning and surprise surprise, the gate opened with the key first time...that makes a change! There was heavy fog around but being dead calm the promise of a fine day beckoned. After getting set up with the boat etc., we had a bit of a wait and then suddenly the sun broke through and we were away. There were a couple of visitors from New Plymouth who had gamboled on the weather and made the trip up. Welcome to Keith and Ross who had bought a carload of planes to suit every occasion. They were soon in the air slicing up the sky. Thanks for making the trip guys. There was a very good turnout of club members as well taking advantage of the fantastic winters day, perfect for float plane flying although a couple were heard whinging that we needed a bit of wind to ruffle the water up! Cripes, some people are hard to please!! The smaller electric planes were reveling in the calm conditions as it makes them much easier to fly with improved endurance. Alan was having a good flight with his electric plane until “uh oh” , the magic smoke started escaping. The boat was hastily dispatched and luckily the fire did not spread. He informs me that the aircraft is now getting a re-power to IC. Phil’s lovely Beaver again did not take to the air with more technical problems in evidence, c’mon Phil, we want to see it flying! My newly purchased Sikorsky amphibian was not playing the game but was trying to do a very good submarine impression! More work required there as well. Rex’s Anderson Kingfisher also seemed to be suffering a similar fate so it’s back to the workshop with that as well. This is another plane that has been shown the water a few tines but doesn’t seem to like the air! 9 Lyndon had his new all composite Cessna going in its naked state and initially looked to be going very well. Unfortunately a moment of pilot error on landing saw it skip through the flight line, ending up getting close and personal with a car! Exciting times! However it will be back. Most pilots were having some very good flights, there always seemed to be several planes in the air at any time. The group photo in the pits showed one of the biggest groups of floatplanes we have had. Frazer gave us several demonstrations on how to fly a trainer properly. Wings level, gentle circuits, gently on the elevator, don’t use the rudder, plenty of height, etc, etc ...who am I kidding!! The poor thing got well and truly wrung out until late in the day when it finally had a small swim. Late afternoon everyone seemed to have had enough so we packed up and headed home, all with big smiles on our faces. Next floatplane date is August 25th at Lake D ....be there! 10 Phils Beaver……… Bens Beaver…….. One flew, the other didn’t 11 Gordons Sikorsky Fraser wringing the bejesus out of his trainer 12 Alan’s SE5a project Sending some photos of my SE5a that I assembled last week to check if everything fitted ok. It all went together without any problems at all.